I had this a couple of times. The first time I brewed it, I neglected to shake the pouch so that I could evenly distribute the little honey crystals that are in it. They do settle so this is one that I recommend giving a good shake so that you can get some of those crystals in your tea.

Typically, I don’t really like it when a tea company sweetens a tea for me. I want to be the one who decides if my tea should be sweetened or not. But I do like the little touch of honey that the crystals bring to this. I probably wouldn’t have added honey to this otherwise, so those crystals do bring a hint of flavor.

The black tea base is a smooth, medium-bodied Ceylon. I taste hints of malt. There is some astringency to this, but it’s mild and doesn’t detract from the enjoyment.

The bergamot isn’t super strong here, but I do get a nice, tangy bergamot note. The notes of vanilla soften the bergamot a bit, and the combination of vanilla and bergamot offers a slight caramel-y flavor. And I think that’s where the honey in this blend really shines. The honey with the caramel-y tones is quite nice.

I just received my first sample from Teavana (I ordered my mom her favorite teas from there) and it is oolong/mate chai with rock sugar. I felt the same way about it being presweetened…. I’m not THAT lazy folks! :)

An Oolong Mate Chai? That sounds pretty unusual! I don’t see the need to presweeten with either stevia or rock sugar because these elements only add sweetness, no other profile to the flavor … other than ‘sugar’ flavor. Whereas honey, that’s a profile. That’s a real flavor, not just a sweetener, and I found that with this Mindful Morning blend, really that’s what the honey did. It didn’t overly sweeten the cup, but it did add a touch of honey-esque flavor.

OK, so this was one of those flavors from Frank that I just wasn’t too sure about.

Oh, sure, I love cake batter as much as the next person, but in a tea? I wasn’t convinced that this was a good idea. But I still had to try it because it was just too weird not to. Or maybe it wasn’t so weird that I wouldn’t try it.

This really does taste like cake batter. Sweet, creamy, buttery. Fortunately it doesn’t have the texture of cake batter because well, that would be a little too weird.

I like that I do taste a strong cake batter flavor but I also taste black tea.

The aroma is distinctly masculine: it’s strong and leather-y. The description of this tea says that it starts out light and smooth and has a brisk, full finish. I’d agree with that assessment.

It starts out almost delicate with notes of citrus (only smoother than a typical citrus tasting tea). It starts out bright and smooth. As the sip progresses, I noticed it morphing into more of a dessert-like tea. Rich, satisfying, and sweet! Notes of ripe peach and plum with a sweet, creamy undertone of caramel.

I think that this was my favorite of the different Teaveda teas that I’ve tried thus far. I really like the fruit notes. And even though this is a decaffeinated black tea, it doesn’t taste decaffeinated to me.

The black tea base is strong. It doesn’t have that thinned taste that decaffeinated teas often have. The fruit notes are also pleasantly strong. The black tea has pleasing notes of malt, and it’s a rich, robust tasting tea. Very satisfying.

A delightful yerba mate blend. It’s a green yerba mate and it has a fresh taste. It’s very invigorating.

The cinnamon is warm and the cacao nibs add a really nice, rich taste of chocolate that I really liked. It’s a nice combination: an earthy, vegetal note from the green mate, the warmly spiced cinnamon and the bittersweet notes of cacao.

I must confess that I wasn’t too sure about this tea when it was added to the SBT lineup. You know how much I love chocolate and chocolate teas, but I’m always just a wee bit … leery of a chocolate iced tea.

But this is yum. It tastes like the name suggests: I taste chocolate and cherry and I taste black tea.

The chocolate is a little on the light side, but for an iced tea it works. I think that if the chocolate notes were stronger, it wouldn’t be as refreshing, it would be more like something I’d want to drink hot.

The cherry is a sweet flavor but it doesn’t taste cough syrup-y to me. It’s pleasant.

Teavivre is one of my favorite companies, especially when it comes to Oolong teas. They have some really outstanding Oolong teas. (And green teas … and other tea types too. They’re just good.)

This is a really yummy TieGuanYin. The roasting process gives it a delicious, sweet, roasty-toasty nutty flavor. I like how the strong floral and vegetal notes of a TieGuanYin take on that nutty tone when the tea is roasted.

The first cup (infusions one and two) was surprisingly full-flavored. The first cup tends to be the softest tasting tea, but this cup was very strongly flavored. Nutty, sweet with hints of orchid in the background. The buttery notes are more like browned butter.

The later infusions had developed flavors of caramel and light honey notes.

My favorite teas are Yellow Teas with most Oolong teas at a close second. As far as “flavored” teas go, I love Earl Grey, Chocolate and Jasmine teas.

I also am intrigued by flavored teas with an unusual or unique flavor combination.

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I don’t do a whole lot of swaps anymore, however, I do occasionally sell sampler boxes. I don’t always have sampler boxes available as it depends upon how much time I have as well as packaging supplies. If you’re interested, keep an eye out or PM me and I’ll let you know when I have some posted.

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Most of the teas that I record in my notes here are going to have a fairly high rating from me. This is not because I am not discerning, but because I do not usually waste my time on drinking tea I do not care for, nor will I waste my time on writing about it.